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Desideratist
Lady Desideratist de Balboa, Baroness of Wolverhampton CRN CS, is a prominent member of the Balboa family. Her full title is "The Lady Desideratist Masterson verch Hefyn de Balboa of Emsket, CRN CS, Baroness of Wolverhampton, Companion of the Royal Nordicnorn Order, Royal Honours Authority, Herald of Arms, Yeoman Squire of the Knights of the Realm." She pronounces "Desideratist" as "Des-eye-der-AR-tist", but is better known as Desi (pronounced dezzie). Coat of Arms Her personal coat of arms (quarterly: Argent and Vert, a mullet Vert cross-quartered; a Rod of Asclepius palewise Or) was originally designed by Gallahan, but she has done more recent changes herself. Her current arms are her personal arms cross-quartered with the arms of Wolverhampton, her barony, with an inescutcheon showing her membership of the Prince's Own Unit of the Knights of the Realms of England. Early Years Desi was born on 13th August 1413 in Hastings as the illegitimate daughter of Eloise Masterson, an English noblewoman, and Hefyn ap Gwyllim, a Welsh noble. She spent some of her young adult life as Governess to Leanasidhe de Balboa, the daughter of Desi's childhood friend and relative Maria Elena Fernandez, but when Leana's mother died, Desi left her native land to be married to a lord from a little-known barony overseas. The marriage ended in her thirtieth year, and she was left destitute and came back to England a refugee, arriving in Hastings on 1st February 1455. Towns of Residence She spent some time living in Hastings, Sussex, and opened a weaver's shop there; the first in Hastings. When Leana de Balboa moved to Coventry, Desi moved there too, but after many of Birmingham's residents moved to the new colonies of Scotland, Desi agreed to move to Birmingham and become a carpenter. In early 1457 she moved to Penrith to be closer to her love, McMannanan in Scotland. Diplomatic and Political Career In the field of diplomacy she was named Envoy to the NNGO from Prince Regent Degas after the attack on Chester, along with Bloodstone, although she was not able to contact the NNGO. She also acted as go-between between Countess Leanasidhe of Stafford and Inanna Moonfaerie, leader of the Wolves of Sherwood, to smooth over a debate over a legal case involving a Wolf attack on a Stafford resident that had happened in Chester and therefore technically covered by the amnesty after the Chester attack; for this work she received the Barony of Wolverhampton. She has spent two terms as Mayoress of Birmingham, and also served as Spokeswoman for Stafford Council, as a member of the Direct Democracy Party of England. She is a Herald of Arms, and in the past had particular responsibility for Baronetcy applications, although she does do some coats of arms, and is Pursuivant to the Balboa family. She was Speaker of the Royal Honours Authority, and designed most of the medals that are used by that organisation. For this service to the Regency she was made a Companion of the Royal Nordicnorn Order. During mid-1456 she spent some time as a member of Prince Chris Braveheart's Privy Council. Military Career She attended the Battle of Birmingham as platoon leader of Stafford Section - mainly because she was the one who had a horse - but in effect she was joint leader with Jersey Rocket, another Coventry resident who was in her platoon. Stafford Section did not, however, see active service. After the Battle of Birmingham she joined the Knights of the Realms of England, where she is now a Yeoman Squire to Knight Commander Gregarious. She was recently in Cumberland, taking part in the joint effort between England and Scotland to catch members of the brigand group the Reavers, and from there travelled to Scotland to assist McMannanan in his "Geas". Family and Marital Status She is a member of the Balboa family, as her great-grandmother was a Balboa. She is third cousin once removed to the head of the family, Leanasidhe. She had a half-sister on her father's side, Abertha ferch Hefyn, known as Surprise, who was one of the Emotions. Abertha was recently killed in Beeston, and Desi has only recently found out about the existence of her sister, let alone her death. She had been married to Vilhelmo, the Baron of Zamen in 1436 but this marriage was dissolved in 1443 because she had not produced an heir. A brief affair with a Wolf of Sherwood Officer Sir Julien Delval, also known as Icey Grave, in late 1455/early 1456 caused some comment at the time, but they have since parted company. Since then, she has started a relationship with McMannanan. Unknown to her at time of writing, he has fallen in love with another woman in Scotland. Recent News Desi recently resettled in Edensdale, a farm in a remote part of Cumberland. Unknown to her, McMannanan, the reason she moved north, has fallen in love with another. She has also been revealed as the masked wedding planner, Milady de Winter, in the Secret Wedding of Princess Brianna and Desi's cousin, Evan de Balboa. After a long journey to Scotland where she sustained an injury, she has retired from most of her official commitments to concentrate on personal matters. She has recently started a career in Science, currently taking much of her time to study and teach in Cumberland. Trivia The language Desi uses in her posts with her housekeeper, Gerda, of a (fictional) city-state in Europe that she calls Zamen, is actually Esperanto, an international language created in 1888. The green and white colours of her personal arms, as well as the green five-pointed stars (mullets, in heraldic terminology) are also Esperanto references. Zamen comes from the name of the language's creator, Zamenhof. She co-founded Renaissance Acts of Kindness with Sir Julien Delval/Icey Grave, an "out of character" forum group designed to promote friendship and understanding between different factions on RK. She has also recently started a Guild of Bards, which is a group of volunteers who will be working to collect and safely store significant roleplay threads from the forums. She is a baptised Aristotlean, but has recently been leaning towards a more pagan outlook after a religious experience near Evesham where she felt the presence of a Goddess called the "Midnight Queen." She now considers Jah to be a name given by some to the general male side of Divinity. Although she is still coming to terms with this, she has taken the step of swearing her oath to the National English Army with the wording "So help me, all aspects of the God and the Goddess" and "before all Divinities." Since then, some others have also altered the wording slightly, to fit in with their own personal religious convictions. She was the custodian of Caverswall, a castle north of Birmingham, which she held in trust on behalf of Princess Brianna until she moved to Penrith.Category:KotR